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Leaders at the United Nations Climate Talks are debating the fate of the Adaptation Fund (AF) and whether it should be housed under the newly established Paris Agreement or remain under the Kyoto Protocol where it initially started.

It is an issue being watched closely by Caribbean leaders and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that have benefitted from the AF, which has committed US$354.9 million to adaptation issues in 61 countries since it started.

“We would like to see the Adaptation Fund situated under the Paris Agreement and we hope this matter will be speedily resolved,” said Saint Lucia’s former Minister of Sustainable Development, Energy and Science, James Fletcher, who is also providing high-level technical support to the Caribbean Community at the UN Climate Talks.

Similarly, Jamaica’s senior climate negotiator Clifford Mahlung said that the fate of the AF was key for developing countries.

“The AF issues goes beyond just having implications for the Alliance of Small Island Developing States (AOSIS), it has implications for all developing countries,” he said, while explaining that one option being explored is for the AF to be subsumed under the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and continue operating as it has since inception.

The GCF is a larger fund that will provide climate financing under the Paris agreement.

It is expected that the discussions re the AF will be put before the high level discussions of the Ministers and heads of state, which begins on Tuesday, November 15.

Other major issues being discussed at the climate talks are:

The finance roadmap to 2020: developed countries have committed US$100 billion to fund climate financing up to 2020, but to date it is unclear how those funds will be leveraged and used. Developing countries and civil society have been criticising the roadmap for double counting existing aid flows among other issues. It is also expected that significantly more funds will be needed to implement the Paris Agreement; and

Loss and Damage: this looks at the policy framework to help communities and vulnerable stakeholders to deal with a variety of climate impacts. Included under the issues covered here is that of climate migrants and funding for the newly established displacement task force. Developing countries have been demanding that developed countries provide financing for some of the associated costs. This may be another issue raised at the high level session.

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For more information, contact Panos Caribbean in Jamaica.

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